164 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



The Price of Queens and Colonies. 



Can a bee-keeper set a livlnf;; by produc- 

 ing ^0()(\. unwarranted queens for one dol- 

 lar ? No! and I will prove it. A good 

 hand in tiie bee-keeping business camiot, 

 without help, raise in tiie four summer 

 months (June to Sept.) more than 500 desir- 

 able queens; i.e., raised in good colonies, 

 for the tirst part of their growth at least. It 

 is now certain that queens nursed in poor 

 colonies, or during time of scarcity, are 

 generally of little value. 



These"500 queens are sold nominally for 

 S500. From this deduct the expenses of ad- 

 vertising, stamps, caaes, mailing, etc. — 

 about SlOO— leaving $400. But these .$400 

 are not net profit; for to raise 500 queens 

 we destroy at least .50 good colonies. If we 

 count these at only $4 each, we have .$-300 

 more to deduct, besides the coat of honey or 

 sugar to feed them; which still decreases 

 the $200 remaining. 



Had we put all our energies to produce 

 honey, our 50 colonies would each have 

 given at least 20 B)S. of honey and 25 good 

 swarms; the whole worth about $200. We 

 would have had (besides plenty of time to 

 do some other business, or to work 250 

 colonies more) a net profit of at least $600. 



Then the " dollar queen " business was a 

 poor idea. Its inventor and propagator 

 was not long in finding that his employees 

 would give better results by working at 

 anything else, and he has left the dollar 

 business to others, after a short trial. 



In Italy, wages are very much lower than 

 in this country; you can hire a good, intel- 

 ligent young man, over 20 years of age, for 

 $60 per annum, board included, in the large 

 cities; you can hire the same in the coun- 

 try for less than 20 cents a day, without 

 board; yet you cannot buy queens for $1. 

 In spring and summer they are worth from 

 $1.20 to $2. It is only in Sept. that you can 

 buy cheap queens, when the peasants brim- 

 stone their bees. 



It is the same in Germany, where hybrid 

 queens are sold for more than $1.20 each, 

 and in that country, also, labor is cheaper 

 than in America. 



Are these dollar queens profitable to the 

 buyers ? No ! Cheap product is very 

 often dear. No doubt some have been 

 satisfied with them; but I have received a 

 number of letters showing that even for 

 nothing these queens would have proved 

 too dear. One [of my neighbors has intro- 

 duced 20 such queens in his apiary of 120 

 black colonies and now he cannot see in 

 which colonies they were introduced, only 

 two of his colonies having been hybridized 

 by this introduction. 



I do not expose these 'dollar queens for 

 business sake. We have resolved not to sell 

 a home-bred queen this season; we have 

 about 100 colonies to Italianize for a neigh- 

 bor, and it is enough to use what we will 

 raise, after replacing the hybrid queens of 

 some of our apiaries. 



The price of colonies this spring is also 



greatly reduced. Such a low price cannot 

 e maintained without loss. A good colony 

 of black bees, in a box hive, can be sold 

 from $3 to $5. The value of such a colony, 

 in Sept., would be as follows: Hive, 50c.; 

 2 lbs. of wax, 55c.; 25 lbs. of honey at 8c., 

 $2; black queen and bees, $2; total value of 

 the colony, $5.05. 



If the owner of these bees cannot sell 

 them in spring for more than $3, his queen 

 and bees are sold for nothing; and, lie is 

 not paid for his trouble, expense and risk of 

 wintering. Had he killed his bees in the 

 fall, to take the contents of his hives, he 

 would have avoided all the trouble and 

 risks of wintering, and obtained just as 

 much money. Many bee-keepers kill their 

 bees every fall. The price of bees in box 

 hives is not their true value and should be 

 increased. 



It is the same with Italian bees in mov- 

 able-comb hives. Combs and honey in 

 movable frames are worth more, because 

 the combs can be kept, and extracted honey 

 is worth more than strained. In Sept. a 

 good colony of Italian bees in a carefully- 

 made and painted movable- frame hive, 

 should be estimated thus: Hive, $2; 8 

 Quinb'y or 10 Langstroth combs, $2; 25 lbs. 

 of honey at 12c., $8; value without bees, $7. 

 We can realize this amount by killing our 

 bees, selling the honey and keeping the 

 combs for the following year. 



But we winter our bees till spring, to sell 

 to our patrons. The cost of wintering can- 

 not be estimated at less than 20c.; chances 

 of wintering, 30c.; cartage and guarantee of 

 safe arrival, 50c.; advertising, circulars, 

 stamps (these items with us amount to $150 

 a year), $1; total expenses, $2., to be added 

 to the price. Then the liive, without the 

 bees is worth $9 in April. By selling colon- 

 ies at $10, tested queens and their bees are 

 sold for $1; at $9 queens and bees are given 

 away ! 



By brimstoning our bees we could have 

 pocketed our profit in the fall without risks 

 or trouble. By selling colonies, we have to 

 replace the hives by new ones, and swarms 

 put into empty hives will bring far less 

 profit than if hived with combs. A good 

 swarm put in a hive with comb, will some- 

 times give as much as 50 lbs. of surplus 

 honey, and remain strong for winter. If 

 we killed our bees we should avoid the 

 labor of answering from 20 to 50 letters of 

 inquiries every week. 



Notwithstanding, at $10 per hive, our test- 

 ed queens and bi'es are sold for only $1, 

 should we send a colony whose queen was 

 replaced by her bees, without our know- 

 ledge, or whose workers or queen are not 

 in accordance with the fancy of the pur- 

 chaser; or if the colony is a little below the 

 average strength, we are unhesitatingly 

 called "humbugs;" not i^rivately, but in 

 full meetings of bee-keepers, as we were 

 last year ! 



Let us all then direct our energies to pro- 

 ducing honey, reducing our swarms to the 

 smallest possible number; for should we 

 continue as we have done so far, we shall 

 be compelled to brimstone our bees. 



Some object that honey is a drug on the 

 market. No ! Honey is becoming a staple 

 article, for all the honey produced is eaten 

 every year. Honey will give profit at 10c. 

 per lb. 



Our honey sales never brought us abuse; 

 and during 10 years of business in selling 

 queens and bees, we have received many 

 praises, but we have also been greeted with 

 accusation enough to make the business 

 very irksome, without a compensating 

 benefit. The bee-breeder who has never 

 been accused of misdealing, is one who has 

 never sold a bee. Cii. Dadant. 



Hamilton, 111., April 10, 1877. 



